Business and Finance news

St. Louis — Another piece of Pyramid Construction is set to be dismantled next week.
The Beaux Arts Building, on Grand Boulevard in midtown, is scheduled for a foreclosure auction at noon Thursday, according to public notices and documents filed with the city. People’s National Bank is foreclosing on a $4.6 million loan it […]

Confidence among U.S. consumers probably gained in May for a third straight month and business activity shrank the least since September, analysts said before reports today.
The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment climbed to 68, the highest in eight months, according to the median estimate of 52 economists in a Bloomberg […]

NEW YORK — Chrysler tried to fend off hundreds of objections Wednesday to its plan to sell most of its assets to Italian automaker Fiat, hoping in a marathon court session to save itself from liquidation.
If Judge Arthur Gonzalez approves the sale, Chrysler could emerge from bankruptcy within weeks. Gonzalez adjourned the hearing […]

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Seong Tae said the central bank will pursue multilateral currency swaps with Asian nations.
“We will seek to strengthen our international financial cooperation still further by, for example, striving to construct a framework of multilateral currency swap arrangements among countries in the Asian region,” he said at a Euromoney […]

U.K. banks granted more mortgages in April than a month earlier, a sign the market for home loans is stabilizing, the British Bankers Association said.
Banks approved 27,685 loans for house purchase, the London- based BBA, which represents the U.K.’s biggest banks, said today in a statement. That compares with 26,671 loans in March. […]

Home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas probably fell at a slower pace in March, pointing to a moderation in the housing slump, economists said ahead of a report today.
The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index fell 18.4 percent from a year earlier following an 18.6 percent drop in February, according to the median of 23 […]

International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said rising oil prices reflect expectations that the recession may be easing and that demand is poised to recover.
The increase reflects “a general improvement in sentiment on signs that the sharpest period of decline in the global economy is over,” Lipsky said in the […]

South Korea and the European Union have agreed to push for an early conclusion of discussions on a new agreement aimed at boosting bilateral trade.
The agreement was reached following a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, European Commission President Jose Barroso and Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Seoul today, according to […]

When Gordon Brown took over as Britain’s Labour finance minister in 1997 after 18 years of Conservative rule, he pledged “sustainable public finances” to cut a debt load that was near the highest in more than a decade.
Brown, prime minister since 2007, is leaving the next government — either his own or one […]

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said prices may rise 2.5 percent in 2011, a rate well above central bankers’ preferred range, and cautioned against complacency on inflation.
“The economy may be at greater risk of inflation than the conventional wisdom indicates,” Plosser said in a speech yesterday in New York. “While […]